This invention relates to methods and systems for providing a direct imaging user interface for format related options, particularly for displaying only format-independent imaging options and imaging options specific to an object file to be imaged.
In general, a digitized, electronic image, such as the text of a document, or some graphical image, or a combination of both, may be captured as an object file having a particular format, such as vector or 3D computer graphics files, Tag Image File Format (“TIFF”) files, Portable Document Format (“PDF”), Joint Photographics Experts Group (“JPEG”), File Interchange Format (“JFIF”), or Microsoft Word® files. An imaging device, such as a printer, may or may not support the format by which the object file is captured.
Indeed, many source devices, such as an applications program on a host computer or a web site, by which an object file is produced and the destination devices adapted to produce an image of an object file, such as a printer, support different respective formats and protocols. For example, a host computer may be running Microsoft Word®, which has a proprietary format, while an associated printer may be adapted only to use Hewlett Packard Printer Control Language (“PCL”) or Adobe Postscript® (“PS”) formats. To overcome such language barriers, either the host computer or the printer may have format translation capability, such as using a Graphics Device Interface (“GDI”) and a corresponding driver on the host computer to translate an object file format, for example MS-Word, to a printer ready format, for example, PCL.
Accordingly, when a user causes an object file to be submitted directly to an imaging device (“direct imaging”) without converting the file to a device-ready format, the imaging options supported by the imaging device may differ from those of the file format. Also, in some cases, a user may want an object file in a rendered imaging format, such as PCL or PS, to be submitted to an imaging device for direct imaging with additional or modified imaging settings that are specific to the rendered imaging format and supported by the imaging device.
Typically, when a user causes an object file to be submitted directly to an imaging device, the data is converted to an imaging device-independent format using a service provided by the operating system of the source device, for example, GDI in Microsoft Windows®, which is then converted by an imaging driver supplied by the manufacturer of the imaging device into a device-specific rendered format, for example, a Page Description Language (“PDL”), such as PCL, or PS. Many modern imaging devices support more than one imaging language format (“personalities”) for an imaging operation. For example, most digital imaging devices manufactured by Sharp Electronics Corp. support PCL, PCL Extended Language (“PCLXL”) and Postscript (“PS”), as well as other PDLs). Each manufacturer typically ships a separate imaging driver for each imaging language format. Additionally, each imaging language format may have settings that are only supported by that format and not the others. In these cases, the imaging language format specific settings only appear in the corresponding imaging drivers, and not the others.
A growing number of modern imaging devices now support the direct submission and device based rendering of a limited number of object file formats, such as PDF, TIFF and JPEG. In these systems, the object file may be submitted to the device without conversion on the host into a device-specific rendering format. Typically, a manufacturer will provide a host side software application for specifying at least a limited number of job settings and despooling the object file to the device. For example, the imaging device may support an embedded web page for direct imaging, which can be accessed via a browser from the host. The web page typically contains some pre-determined job setting options which are supported by the device, for example, number of copies, whether pages are to be collated, whether duplex finishing is to be employed, and whether copies are to be stapled, and a means to specify the object files to print. The user provides the job settings and the location of the object file to the device via entries made into the web page. The imaging device then pulls the object file and renders it according to the specified settings. The Sharp Electronics Corp. AR-M277 digital imager is an example of a device with this capability. This prior art method is illustrated by FIG. 1, in which host computer 10, which implements the method, is connected to the internet 12 and a printer 14, and produces the UI 16, which may be viewed by a user 18 who also operates the computer 10.
The user interface (“UI”) displayed on a web page is a universal UI for all valid object file formats. Accordingly, the UI generally either lists (1) only a subset of imaging options that are common across all language formats, or (2) a superset of settings that are applicable to some, but not necessarily all language formats. In the first case, the user is unable to select settings that are specific to the language format. In the second case, confusion may arise as to which object files the options apply.
In another method, the manufacturer provides a host side application for direct imaging which utilizes traditional host-based push imaging methods. Generally, the host side application provides a means for the user to specify settings for imaging, and for despooling the imaging job and associated functions using a traditional host based push method, for example, Line Printer Remote (“LPR”). The Xerox Corporation Document CentreWare® Direct Image submit tool is an example of this method. This prior art method is illustrated by FIG. 2, in which a host computer 20, which implements the method, is connected to a printer 22, and produces the UI 24, which may be viewed by a user 26 who also operates the computer 20.
In this second prior art method, an application program on the host computer may support a variety of printer models or configurations with varying capabilities and associated settings. Generally, the host application provides a universal UI for all possible supported models and associated configurations, and lists (1) only a subset of standard settings that are common across all base configurations for each of the supported printer models; (2) only a subset of standard settings that are common across all base and installable configurations for each of the supported models, even though a specific printer may not be installed for the capability; or (3) a superset of settings that are applicable to some, but not necessarily all printer models and associated configurations. This prior art method suffers the same drawback as the first described prior art method in that the UI only displays settings that are language format specific.
Therefore, a more effective method for of displaying and selecting language format specific imaging options for direct imaging, when one or more options are not applicable to one or more language formats of the object files, is desirable.